Protecting your Social Media Account

I have filled in the form multiple times to be verified, but it may be I am not popular. Cue Facebook’s Meta Verified – a verification system that the company uses to verify the authenticity of accounts belonging to public figures, businesses, and organizations on its platform. The verification badge appears as a blue checkmark next to the account name on Facebook, indicating that the account has been verified as authentic and belongs to the person, business, or organization it claims to represent.

Facebook’s Meta Verified badge is designed to help users identify authentic accounts on the platform and avoid fake or impersonated accounts. It is not available to all Facebook users, and the company has its own criteria for determining which accounts are eligible for verification. Generally, Facebook verifies accounts that are in the public interest, have a large following, and are at risk of being impersonated.

It’s worth noting that Facebook has recently rebranded itself as “Meta,” so it’s possible that the verification system will also be referred to as “Meta Verified” going forward.

As a paid subscription feature, Meta Verified will help creators “establish and grow [their] presence on Instagram and Facebook.”

And it’ll come with perks like:

1. Impersonation Monitoring: Account monitoring to target impersonators.

2. Verification Badge: Account authentication with a government ID upon subscribing.

3. Reach & Visibility: Increased exposure in search, comments, and recommendations.

4. Live Chat Customer Support: Access to real-time customer support.

5. Exclusive Features: Stickers on Facebook and Instagram Stories — plus Facebook Reels.

Really, it’s been too much to take in, all these changes. I get that Instagram is a business, but all these updates over the past few years have completely killed the creative vibe.

On the other hand, I do see that these tools may prove extremely useful for business owners. In particular, to discourage imitators. Yet, as a creator, I find all these new techniques and features to be tiresome, and it has led me to consider switching to other channels. Because of this, I now use Instagram mostly for fostering relationships within my community. In contrast to their prior stans on genuineness and preference for originality, the paid reach concept is a contradiction in terms. Sometimes it seems like IG is confused about what they want. But, perhaps there is logic behind their apparent insanity.

I doubt many individuals would be willing to shell up $144 a year for a verification badge. Past experience suggests that adoption of such a service would be low—less than one percent of Meta’s user base, at most.

But maybe that’s okay; maybe Meta already understands that almost no one would sign up for it, but that even a small number of people paying the premium will be worthwhile.

Again, it seems to devalue what it’s attempting to sell, and like Twitter Blue, it’ll never be as successful as Twitter CEO Elon Musk hopes it will be. In any case, Elon will be glad that Zuck is following in his footsteps since it lends credibility to both his verification strategy and the idea of pay-gating social media sites.

While it may be problematic, I believe that the additional exposure and direct account support will be enough to win over a few thousand creators.

But there’s also a cap: the number of users who can afford to upgrade to Twitter Blue, Meta Verified, and Snapchat+.

Perhaps it’s a cost of doing business for creators, for whom their own presence is essential to their success. Nonetheless, I doubt that there is more than a niche market for these gadgets.

Verification prevents the accounts of genuine creators from being shut down which is a pro to be fair. People work hard for their followers and then lose their accounts and have to start from scratch. This would prevent that.

For one, the current check mark is the wrong colour. I have a question about pet accounts; please explain. Thirdly, how come people with the same name can now comment on other people’s posts regarding the same name? Well, that is a real problem… Now, number four: what about phoney identification? It’s not difficult to make, and anyone who has the cash to spare can have their credentials validated. This opens the door for a new kind of identity theft scheme.

If you are anything like me who has had your account scammed, hacked, hijacked or stolen and never recovered within the app or through various clever messaging sent with links via DM. Check my nightmare here.

So Who Has Access to Meta Verified?

To be eligible, you must:

• Be at least 18 years old

• Have a profile associated with your full name and a profile picture that includes your face

• Have a government-issued ID that matches your name and picture (see below)

• Have two-factor authentication set up

• Meet minimum activity requirements, such as prior posting history

NOTE: Currently, business profiles are not eligible.

We will stay curious for now!